Chase and Status
by Verstrahlt
Summary: Percy, being subject to false accusations regarding drugs, has been expelled from Upper Canada College. He returns home in shame, to a mother who has lost hope in him. Unfortunately for him though, the days of chasing a high school status aren't over yet


**Just a heads up, I edited this shortly before I uploaded it... Luke was originally supposed to be the protagonist, but I changed it to Percy, because the character seemed more like Percy. Just a heads up. :)**

Chase and Status

There I was again. In front of the principal's office again. I think it was a new record for me... 4 times in a month. At least this time it wasn't my fault. The other times were either because I had beat someone up or because I had made too many snide and stupid comments toward the teachers. But this time... it was different. "Percy Jackson?" The principal, Kirkland to just about everyone, opened his door. And sighed. "Again? You're really pushing your luck, Luke." He beckoned me in. "Ok, Percy. You wanna explain the marijuana found in your locker. "

"I can't explain it sir, other than telling you: it isn't mine. Someone planted it there." Kirkland laughed.

"You really expect me to believe that, Mr. Jackson?" He shook his head. "I'm sorry Percy, but that was your last chance. And you blew it. I don't have much choice here. What with the PTA and the school board putting pressure on me... I believed in you, kid. Hell, I still believe in you. You're a smart guy. But even if the stash wasn't yours, I've gotta bust someone." The principal's eyes were sad. "Clean out your locker, kid, and pack your bags. Next week your going back home. Start grade 10 in another school there."

"Sir, please! I can't... not again. I can't be expelled again!" Tears welled up in my eyes. That wasn't like me. Toughest kid in grade 9? Not even making the quota. "My mom... this time... not again!"

"I'm sorry, Percy. I truly am. I even believe the drugs weren't yours. But we don't have any other evidence. The best thing I can do for you is get most of your permanent record erased. Then you won't have it trailing around after you, making everything worse." He did look sorry. "I'm doing the best I can. Upper Canada College just can't... have you in the school anymore. Even though you're a great athlete, we can't wave away the fact that you've been dealing or holding drugs. The fights, we could handle. The sub-par grades, we could manage. But you've crossed the line, kid. There's a train booked for you for tomorrow." He got up and moved toward the door. I followed. He was probably speaking more, but I didn't hear it. Didn't feel it. I had blown it. Back to Newton. Back to shame. She would hate me even more for it. And she'd lose all trust and hope over me. It was my last chance. And I had blown it.

The train rolled to a stop. The conductor said that the train would be in station for 2 hours, so I was no hurry to get off. I looked out the window. A chilly March in the town an hour away from Des Moines was NOT my preferred destination. It was hell. Well, ok. Real hell had been in Jean-Paul Sartre's _No Way Out_. I had been the protagonist, Garcin, way back in grade 8. Drama and sports... the only things that came naturally to me. I jolted myself from my reverie and stood up, picked my suitcase up and hopped off the train. Osceola was a horrible little dump. I hated it, but you couldn't get an Amtrak or Via train into Des Moines. I found myself moving toward the tiny little 'arrivals' door. She was waiting for me, scowl plastered on her head. She simply grabbed my suitcase, and marched off toward the exit. That was it. No, "welcome back" or "how have you been." I followed her out the door.

Starting as a freshman was hard, but starting as a sophomore? Forget about it. At least when you were a freshman there were other new kids. But as a sophomore, you're alone. All the Alliances have been made before you got there. People have separated into cliques, and the social hierarchy, well, it's already in place. I had managed to work my way through March and summer break all the way to September, and so there I was. Stuck in an alien landscape. I stumbled past a crowded locker room, trying to find my way to the guidance counsellors office. Or something like that. I finally found the school life coordinator. Now, Newton is a pretty small place compared to Toronto or New York. I had just spent two years in Toronto with UCC, and I was actually surprised that Newton even HAD a high school. I knocked on the door and went in, asking about a schedule, or help, or both. The guy, Mr... Zelinsky? looked at me with amusement.

"You need to see the guidance counsellor for a schedule. If you go up the stairs... that way," he pointed off towards the right, "and turn go left on the very first turn on the second floor, you'll find all the other offices."

"All the other offices? Why is yours down here, sir?" He looked at me with surprise.

"Sir? I haven't been called that by a student for a long time. You got some good manners, uh...?"

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

"Well, Percy, I'm down here to keep an eye on the other students. No off you go, class starts in 5 minutes." I hurried out and closed the door. What kind of school didn't call their teachers _sir _or _ma'am_? This place was already Mars to me. I found my way to the guidance counsellor's office, and she gave me my schedule and locker number. "Thank you, Mrs. Webber. I'll just be off to... " I was interrupted by someone bursting into the office. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes and a deep summer tan, like he had been spending every day at a summer camp. He grinned at me. "New guy?"

"Yeah." His smile got even broader.

"Cool. I'm new too. Got here two days ago from Ohio." He was acting pretty weird, but he was kinda cool as well.

"I'm Percy. Percy Jackson."  
>"It's nice to meet you Percy! I'm Luke." He picked his schedule up from Mrs. Webber, and looked over it as we walked outside. "What have you got next?"<p>

"Drama." He wrinkled his nose.

"You take drama? That's pretty gay dude." I rolled my eyes. I had been dealing with people who thought drama was gay ever since I had done the musical in grade 6.

"Do you know how many girls do drama, buddy? I reckon it'll be two to one, and I know that when I did the independent schools drama festival back in Canada I got a LOT of numbers." I raised my eyebrows at him. He frowned.

"So, wait. You're saying that a lot of hot girls do drama?"

"Yes sir." His eyes widened. He ran back into Webber's office. He came out a few seconds later smiling.

"Dropped design tech for drama. It had better be worth it, man." I laughed.

"Trust me, girls love a guy who can act. Now, let's go find our class." He smiled, and we shook hands. Friends after 5 minutes. Who could've guessed?

"You, you, you, and you're the doctor." Mr. Neibert ushered the 'doctor' out and pointed to me, Luke and a girl named Silena. I grinned. This game was awesome. "Ok, you... think you're one of Santa's elves." He said to Luke. He turned to Silena and said, "you think you're a... dragon. And you," he pointed to me, "Whenever you speak, you have to be touching someone different."

"Sounds good sir." Luke frowned.

'When you say I'm one of Santa's elves... like...?"

"Just go with whatever you think that means, dude. It's improv!" He shook his head, clearly mystified.

"So, I don't tell her I'm one of Santa's elves?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. He'll ask you questions and you answer them like how you think an elf would."

"Oh. That makes sense... I guess." Mr. Neibert called the doctor in.

"Hello patients, welcome to group therapy. I'm Thalia Grace. I'll be your doctor today. Let's start with names."

"Hi," I said, touching Percy's shoulder. "I'm Percy." Luke looked at me funny.

"I'm Legolas." He said in a squeaky voice. That got a few laughs from the rest of the class. Drama class went on like that until the end of the period. Me and Thalia were always volunteering, but nobody else really wanted to go, so it was always me, Thalia, and two kids who didn't give a shit. As we were walking out of class, I touched Thalia's shoulder. "Hey. I don't think we've met." She looked at me like I had two heads.

"Percy, if you want to be popular, don't talk to me," I said. I frowned. Why wouldn't she be popular? She was hot, and from what I had seen, pretty nice too. I ran to catch up with her. "Hey, wait! Maybe I don't want to be popular." She looked at me like I was kidding.

"What guy doesn't want to be popular?" She asked.

"The kind of guy who wants friends." I smirked. "I've been popular before, and it wasn't that fun. Why aren't you popular, anyway?" She smiled.

"The people I hang out with. One of them is this creepy goth guy, one of them is a major workaholic who wants to go to Harvard of something, and the other is a... Grover."

"A Grover?" I asked. The only Grover I had ever met was a 250 pound CFL player. "The last Grover I met was a beast." We stopped at a hallway intersection. "What have you got next?" I asked.

"Math. How about you?"

"I've got, uh, Spanish." She looked at me in surprise.

"You know Spanish?"

"Well, not really." I said, a little perplexed. "I spent two years at a boarding school in Canada and got pretty fluent in French. I figured that Spanish would be sort of similar."

"So... you've never taken it before?"

"Well, maybe back in grade 6 and 7. But then I went to UCC. Anyway Thalia, I'll see you... later?" Her cheeks got a little red. Or maybe that was my imagination.

"If you want to, I'll introduce you to my friends."

"Sure! I'd like that. Is your lunch period the same as mine?" She snatched my schedule.

"Yeah. After next class. I'll see you there then?" I grinned.

"Sure. Sounds awesome." We walked off in our separate directions. As I was walking to Spanish, I was thinking about her. She was pretty hot, easygoing, it seemed strange to me that she wasn't popular. But then again, I had been going to an all boys boarding school. The only girls I ever saw were on track days, and the pre-arranged dances we had. And the drama festivals, but that was sort of different.

Spanish was a bore. It came pretty naturally to me, but I didn't care about Spanish, or English, for that matter. Math and Science were boring, the only thing that I really liked doing was playing sports and acting. Maybe I was destined for Broadway. I struggled through Spanish, not really paying attention. I was just waiting for lunch to roll around. Finally the bell went, and I was just walking out the door when I was stopped by someone. I turned around and was met with a huge brutish face. I started back. "Percy, right?" He said. I tried to keep my voice level.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" The brutish guy sized me up, and then started to laugh.

"It's good to know you aren't one of those new kids who just rolls over! I'm Beckendorf. Charles Beckendorf. You look pretty cool, so I'm gonna give you some advice. Don't hang out with the losers. Thalia Grace is pretty hot, but she's as sexed up as a friggin nun. Grover, he used to be cool... but then... well, that's for another time, and now he's such a nerd. Annabeth, well, she's pretty hot too, but she's a know-it-all, and a huge bitch." Ok, this made me pretty mad. So what if these people weren't perfect.

"Hey, Beckendorf, whatever, don't tell me who I should hang out with." He backed off in surprise.

"Your call man, but when you start hanging with those losers, you'll be at the bottom of the school."He held his hands up. "I won't see you round, I guess." He walked away, and I got pretty angry watching him lumber off. I was still fuming when I sat down with Thalia. I told her what he had said, but she didn't look all that surprised. "Yeah. People don't like us much. Sorry Percy. I probably shouldn't have-"

"No." I cut her off. "I'll chill with people I like. I don't care about being popular." I got a smile from her. We started talking about stupid little things, but we were interrupted by a tanned blonde girl, and a guy with curly brown hair and a wispy goatee. "Hey Thals." The guy said. "Who's this?"

"Annabeth, Grover, this is Percy. He's new." Grover raised his eyebrows.

"A new guy? Why's he hanging out with us?" He rolled his eyes. "In case you don't know, we're not the coolest people out there."

"I don't really care about being popular? Who cares what people think?" I smiled. "Having friends is more important being popular, anyway."

"Well then," Grover said, "in that case, for what it's worth, welcome to Ebanks-Blake highschool." He chuckled. "I'm Grover Underwood, and that's Annabeth Chase. She isn't all that..." Annabeth fixed him with a glare.

"I'm... what, Grover? Not friendly?" She turned to me and gave me a smile. "Grover hasn't been the same since he got in that accident."

"Annabeth!" Grover cried. "That's not cool."

"What accident?" I asked. He sighed.

"Last winter, I was star forward for our hockey team. Then someone thought it would be funny ice my house steps." He gestured to a crutch. "I've gotta use this from now on. Well, I can walk without it, but I have an awful limp if I do." He shrugged. "Shit happens."

"C'est la vie, huh?" I said.

"C'est la vie? I never took French."

"It's like saying, that's life. I got expelled from UCC because someone hid drugs in my locker." All the people sitting around me turned to look at me.

"You were expelled for dealing drugs?"

"Think you could get some for the party on Friday?" I scowled. This was just what I needed, a rumour about me being a drug dealer.

"No, no! I was... they weren't MY drugs. I don't know whose they were, but I got expelled anyway."

"Oh." A collective groan from most people. They went back to their conversations like I had never existed, although I did get a couple of glances from a few cute girls. One of them was Annabeth.

"You went to UCC? Where and what's that?"

"Upper Canada College. It's a private school in... well, you get the idea."

"Was it nice in Canada? I heard they feed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks." Grover chimed in. I grinned.

"Canada was amazing. When we went on school trips to Quebec and Muskoka... I loved it there, anyway. If you count sushi has raw meat, then yeah, they fed us raw meat, and I'm pretty sure I saw a grade 11 getting beaten by his science teacher once." I winked at them. "It was great. But I'm here now, I've gotta make the most of it." Grover stood up.

"Well, I've got to get to art. If I'm late, Juniper will kill me. Bye _Beth_, bye Thals. See you around, Percy." He grabbed his crutch and limped away.

"So, who wants to tell me who Juniper is?"

"Grover's the only one of us in a relationship." Thalia explained. "I haven't been in one since... never mind, and Annabeth... well, she kinda hasn't-"

"Shut up, Thalia!" Annabeth squeaked. She was bright red.

"Nah, it's cool. I haven't been in a proper one. Grade 8 and 9 was all boys for me. But I remember grade 7 pretty well. Anyway, who's Juniper?"

"She's a lot like Grover, actually. Well, mentally. They both want to _save the world_." Thalia shrugged. "She's pretty nice when you get to know her, but she also hangs out with Silena." Thalia shuddered, and then raised her eyebrows when she looked at my face. "She's, how do I say it... the biggest slut in the school?"

Annabeth looked up from her salad. "That sounds about right." She and Thalia laughed, but then rolled their eyes when they saw my expression. I was mystified.

"You saw her in drama class, Percy... c'mon." That's right. I had heard the name in class. She was pretty in a sort of trashy way. She DID have a nice figure, but... she had looked a total bitch.

"I sort of figured out that she wasn't the nicest person. Anyway guys, where's the activities board?"

"It's next to Zelinsky's office. You know where that is, right?" Annabeth said.

"Um..." I thought about that for a second. I really wanted to get to know her. She was hot. "No, could you show me?"

"Sure, give me five more minutes." Thalia got up.

"Annabeth, I've got to get to class. I'll see you guys later."

**A/N**

**Ok, the end was a bit rushed. I got tired of writing the first chapter... and the end was also a little unbelievable. And from march to august, I know it's a long gap. One day I'll add in a flashback to it. **

**Thanks for reading, guys. It's always a pleasure to write for people, especially when the review! Ha!**

**And a cookie to whoever knows what Chase and Status really is. ;)**


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